Advise on Finding a Babysitter in the Blue Springs, MO Area.

Here are a couple of other sites you might check out:
www.babysitters.com
www.care.com
www.babysitters4hire.com

I would also call the area hospitals or look online they offer classes for teenagers that want to be certified babysitters. They may be able to offer you a list or something that you could call.

Also I would try the high school in your area and see is they don't offer something from one of their classes.
Also check Craigslist A) put an ad on there yourself or B) sometimes teenagers will post an ad on there, like ones that are attending college classes. Also check with your neighboors maybe someone around you knows someone or uses someone.
Hope this helps, W. B.

I second Suzi's opionion. If you want a qualified person, you have to pay for it. As a previous preschool teacher with nanny experiece, I got paid $11 an hour to babysit 4 years ago. A parenting magazine had an article about teen babysitters awhile back. It is hard to get a high school student to babysit, because they can go down to the grocery store or a restaurant and get a real job with predictable hours making 7-8 bucks an hour. You will have to be competitive with that for a 16 year old.

Do you children go to preschool or daycare during the day? If they do, you might want to see if one of the workers there babysits on the side. If you are looking for someone to watch your children all day, your best bet might be to find another mom in the area that stays home with her kids. If you find someone like this, you will most likely have to let her take your child places. Why would you want your child to stay at home all the time? If you stayed at home with your kids, would you take them to parks, the library, or to playdates? You should want your child to have the same experiences even if you arent the one taking them. If you are talking about just a few hours a week, I can understand why you would want them to stay home.

A couple suggestions for places to look are
1. TLC Caregivers which is a nanny/babysitting agency in Kansas City
2. Call the career centers of community colleges/4 yr colleges areound the area because they often have lists of babysitters.
3. Craigslist

The hard part is, you just dont know. You can never know if your child is getting the same care that you would give. If you want to know, you have to stay at home. The best thing you can do is check references and ask questions. If you are looking to drop your kids off somewhere with an at home care giver, talk to their neighbors. Many times neighbors may notice how the caregiver watches or talks to the kids, how the kids behave playing outside, how many kids the caregiver watches. References are generally going to be good if they are provided by the babysitter, becasue who would give the name out of someone who didn't like you. Also, trust your instincts.

Good luck!

Do they go to daycare? I have considered asking some of the girls who work with my son at his daycare. If you find someone trustworthy, will you please let me know? Like you, I am hesistant on leaving him with someone that he doesn't know but would also like to have some time to myself.

Thanks!

K.

S.,

You have had some good suggestions of places you can look. So I'll just play devils advocate a little bit here.

Someone that is experienced enough, has a safe car, proper seats etc. is more than capable of taking the kids on personal errands and kids never mind this. My daycare kids love our errand days because they also know that if they are good in the stores I will take them to the park or if the weather is too hot or cold we'll go to a McDonald's to play in the tunnels. We stop off and check the libraries for special shows like puppet shows or go to the Library on story days. I also keep my car full of books to look at and the ones old enough to read will read stories to the younger ones.

I think you should realize that there is not much money to be made in daycare. Whether it's "babysitting", or an actual childcare provider with other children, our lives must go on as well. We simply don't get paid enough to pay someone else to do our personal work for us.

As far as times being safer, it was only an illusion. With cable tv, the internet and dedicated channels only for news, we hear everything bad right away. People were kidnapped, raped and killed in all centuries. What you need is someone that has a good track record, a cell phone, a safe car and enough experience to get the job done. Or...

If you are able to pay enough per hour, say 10-12 per hour to get someone in that will work exclusively for you, then you can lay down the law and tell them what to do, plan the activities at your home and then by all means you are in charge. But the hours you need might be too few to get someone really experienced because they might need more of a real job to get by on.

Maybe you could place ads on the Kansas City Star website. It's free to place it online only.

Suzi